February 14 Balance Update Preview

[Rubi Bayer.8493]

Hi all,

Welcome to the preview for the February 14 balance update! As always, the goal of previewing these changes is to gather your feedback before the live release. We'll be following the conversation and making further adjustments as needed.

Thanks,

Cal "cmc" Cohen

Skills and Balance Lead

 

Mantras

In May 2021, we made a significant adjustment to the mantra skill type to address some pain points in their gameplay patterns, but this also caused mantras to lose most of their identity, gameplay depth, and even some functionality. We decided to take another look at the rework to figure out what problems we need to solve, and if we can do it in a way that allows mantras to keep their unique aspects.

The original goals behind the rework were focused on two main ideas:

First, recasting all your mantras after changing maps or dying wasn't a particularly fun experience. This primarily applied to firebrand mantras, as mesmer mantras grant a bonus upon finishing their initial casting time. During the initial investigation of the mantra rework, we considered simply allowing mantras to automatically prepare while out of combat in PvE maps. There was some concern about creating a functional difference between game modes, so we moved away from that idea and went with the more significant rework that's in the game now. Since then, we've become more open to functional differences across game modes, and with this update, we've decided to implement the autopreparation mechanic in PvE and return to mantras' unique mechanics.

The other central idea was that using a mantra's final charge was a mistake most of the time. This is commonly due to an imbalance between the value of the initial charges and that of the final charge (or in the case of mesmer mantras, the on-cast effect) and is something that we feel can be addressed by tuning the effectiveness of these skills. We don't want to tilt the scales so far in the other direction that rushing through the mantras as quickly as possible is always optimal; there should be cases for each play pattern. Sometimes it will be correct to sit on the ammunition recharge and sometimes it will be correct to use the final charge. We believe that this balance can be reached with the previous version of mantras, and with the primary issue resolved via autopreparing firebrand mantras, we decided to return all mantras to their old functionality.

In summary:

• Mantras will again need to be prepared before gaining access to their charges.
• Firebrand mantras will have a more powerful final charge.
• Mesmer mantras will grant an effect upon finishing their initial casting time.
• In PvE maps, firebrand mantras will automatically prepare when out of combat and not on cooldown.

Elementalist

To improve the staff's support capabilities, we're bumping up the power on some of its weaker skills and increasing the usability of some clunkier skills. We've also tuned up some of the cantrips that don't see as much play to solidify them as solid defensive options.

On the competitive side, scepter became a powerful threat following the last balance update, and we're making a few adjustments in those modes to bring it back in line.

Core

• Burning Speed: This skill will now stop moving when it reaches the targeted enemy if one exists.
• Earthen Rush: This skill will now stop moving when it reaches the targeted enemy if one exists.
• Soothing Disruption: This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of cantrips.
• Lightning Flash: Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE only.
• Cleansing Fire: This skill is now an ammunition skill and grants the caster might for each condition it removes. Ammunition recharge time is 25 seconds.
• Armor of Earth: This skill now grants barrier for each unique boon on the user in addition to its other effects. Reduced duration from 6 seconds to 4 seconds in PvP only. Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 40 seconds in PvP only.
• Ether Renewal: Reduced casting time from 2.75 seconds to 2.25 seconds. Reduced cooldown from 18 seconds to 15 seconds.
• Flame Burst: This skill now inflicts blind in addition to burning.
• Burning Retreat: Reduced cooldown from 20 seconds to 18 seconds.
• Water Blast: This skill can now target allies.
• Geyser: Increased heal attribute scaling from 1.0 to 1.25 in PvP and WvW.
• Frozen Ground: This skill now grants frost aura to allies in the area when the field is created.
• Healing Rain: This skill now heals allies for each condition removed. Increased conditions removed per pulse from 1 to 2 in PvE only.
• Gust: This skill is now ground-targetable.
• Windborne Speed: This skill now grants superspeed in addition to its other effects.
• Transmute Earth: This skill now grants stability instead of protection. Increased boon-application radius from 240 to 600.
• Dragon's Tooth: Reduced power coefficient from 2.0 to 1.5 in PvP and WvW.
• Water Trident: Reduced ammunition from 2 to 1 in PvP and WvW.
• Blinding Flash: Reduced ammunition from 2 to 1 in PvP and WvW. Reduced weakness duration from 2.5 seconds to 2 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Stone Sheath: Reduced the duration of Tectonic Shift from 2 seconds to 1 second in PvP only.
• Conjurer: This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of conjured-weapon abilities.

Tempest

• Lucid Singularity: This trait now causes overloads to pulse alacrity while channeling in addition to granting alacrity when channeling is completed. The total amount of alacrity granted remains the same.

Weaver

• Superior Elements: Critical chance granted by this trait has been increased from 10% to 15% in PvE only.
• Cauterizing Strike: Increased power coefficient against burning enemies from 2.33 to 2.8 in PvE only.
• Charged Strike: Increased power coefficient from 0.8 to 0.9 in PvE only.
• Polaric Slash: Increased power coefficient from 0.9 to 1.0 in PvE only.
• Call Lightning: Follow-up lightning strikes occur faster and will now always strike three times.
• Polaric Leap: Increased power coefficient from 0.33 to 0.66 in PvE only.
• Seiche: Increased power coefficient from 0.5 to 0.8 in PvE only.
• Clapotis: Increased power coefficient from 0.6 to 0.9 in PvE only.
• Breaking Wave: Increased power coefficient from 1.0 to 1.1 in PvE only.
• Aqua Siphon: Increased base healing from 1,770 to 2,255 in PvE only.
• Twin Strike: Increased power coefficient on initial strike from 0.5 to 1.0 in PvE only.
• Shearing Edge: Increased power coefficient from 1.5 to 1.8 in PvE only.
• Weave Self: Woven Air and Perfect Weave now grant increased strike damage in addition to their other effects.

Catalyst

• Fortified Earth: Reduced base barrier from 2,520 to 1,254 in PvP only.
• Elemental Celerity: Increased cooldown from 60 seconds to 75 seconds in PvP only.
• Deploy Jade Sphere: Increased cooldown from 10 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP only.

Engineer

This engineer update focuses on usability improvements. Some boons and conditions from the mechanist mech's skills were being applied by the engineer rather than the mech itself. While addressing this issue, we wanted to ensure that the mech would maintain its current effectiveness, and we've fixed some issues that prevented certain condition duration traits from affecting the mech. We're also relaxing the timing on the mech's out-of-range penalty, giving players a bit more flexibility when moving away. We've also cleaned up the animation timing on main-hand pistol to make the weapon feel a bit more fluid to use.

In competitive modes, we're taking another look at improving bruiser scrapper builds and bringing back one of its more iconic defensive traits in Rapid Regeneration.

Core

• Fragmentation Shot: Reduced aftercast duration by 25%.
• Poison Dart Volley: Increased overall animation speed of this skill by 66%.
• Utility Goggles: Increased number of damaging conditions removed from 1 to 2.

Scrapper

• Reconstruction Field: Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Chemical Field: Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Damage Dampener: This trait has been replaced with Rapid Regeneration. Rapid Regeneration heals the scrapper while they are under the effects of either swiftness or superspeed.
• Applied Force: Increased bonus power per might stack from 15 to 20 in PvE only.

Mechanist

• Fixed an issue that caused the engineer to be the source of boons and conditions for several mech skills, instead of the mech itself.
• Jade Mech CJ-1: Fixed an issue that caused melee autoattacks to be slower than intended. Reduced the range of the first two melee strikes from 240 to 130.
• Mech Frame: Channeling Conduits: Increased concentration inherited by the mech from 100% to 150%.
• Mechanical Genius: Increased duration of the boon applied by Mechanical Genius from 6 seconds to 10 seconds.
• Chemical Rounds: Fixed an issue that prevented the condition damage from this skill from being inherited by the mech.
• Serrated Steel: This trait now functions with the mech when it is active.
• Incendiary Powder: This trait now functions with the mech while it is active. Trait cooldowns for the mech are separate from the engineer.

Guardian

Power guardian builds still aren't quite at the level we want them to be in PvE after the previous balance update, and we're making some additional improvements to greatsword, sword, and focus to improve their damage potential.

One of our goals with the mantra update is to make the final charge of firebrand mantras a more compelling option, and as part of that, we've made an adjustment to Weighty Terms that makes final charge skills restore a page to the firebrand. We've also tuned up some tome skills in PvP, where firebrand is still struggling to find its footing.

Core

• Strike: Increased power coefficient from 0.9 to 1.0 in PvE only.
• Vengeful Strike: Increased power coefficient from 1.0 to 1.1 in PvE only.
• Wrathful Strike: Increased power coefficient from 1.4 to 1.5 in PvE only.
• Whirling Wrath: This skill no longer reduces the user's movement speed.
• Symbol of Resolution: Increased power coefficient per strike from 0.6 to 0.65 in PvE only.
• Sword Wave: Increased power coefficient per strike from 0.5 to 0.55 in PvE only.
• Symbol of Blades: Increased power coefficient per strike from 0.6 to 0.65 in PvE only. Reduced recharge from 10 seconds to 8 seconds.
• Ray of Judgment: Increased power coefficient per strike from 0.33 to 0.45 in PvE only.
• Zealot's Defense: Reduced cooldown from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
• Symbol of Protection: Reduced casting time from 1.33 seconds to 0.9 seconds.
• Zealot's Embrace: This skill now grants barrier when striking an enemy.
• Banish: This skill now marks the enemy for 5 seconds. Mighty Blow will consume the mark to teleport to the target.
• Right-Hand Strength: This trait no longer reduces the recharge of main-hand sword skills.
• Unscathed Contender: Reduced strike damage increase while under the effects of aegis from 20% to 7%. This trait now grants an additional 7% strike damage increase while you are above 90% health.

Dragonhunter

• Test of Faith: Increased protection duration from 2 seconds to 4 seconds in PvP only.
• Light's Judgment: The first strike of this skill will now daze enemies in addition to its other effects. Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Wings of Resolve: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
• Shield of Courage: Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 50 seconds.
• Fragments of Faith: Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 45 seconds in PvP and WvW. Reduced stability duration from 5 seconds to 4 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Hunter's Determination: This trait has been reworked. It now causes all elite skills to break stuns on activation.
• Heavy Light: Reduced internal cooldown from 10 seconds to 1 second.

Firebrand

• Exiting a firebrand tome will now put that tome on a 0.5-second cooldown.
• Chapter 2: Igniting Burst: Increased weakness duration from 2 seconds to 3 seconds in PvP only.
• Chapter 3: Heated Rebuke: Reduced page cost from 2 to 1 in PvP only.
• Chapter 2: Radiant Recovery: Reduced cooldown from 8 seconds to 6 seconds in PvP only.
• Chapter 4: Shining River: Increased base pulse heal from 287 to 464 in PvP only. Increased pulse-heal attribute scaling from 0.2 to 0.25 in PvP only.
• Epilogue: Eternal Oasis: Reduced page cost from 3 to 2 in PvP only.
• Epilogue: Unbroken Lines: Increased the number of stability stacks from 1 to 2 in PvP only.
• Firebrand mantras now require an initial casting time to prepare the mantra charges. The final charge of each mantra is more powerful.
• Firebrand mantras will now automatically swap to their charged state when not on cooldown and when the player is out of combat in PvE maps.
• Weighty Terms: This trait will now only trigger on the final charge of a mantra and restores one page in addition to its current effect. This trait no longer has an internal cooldown.

Willbender

• Willbender virtues no longer remove the active effects of other willbender virtues.

Mesmer

While reviewing mesmer's mantras, we felt that many of the effects granted upon finishing the initial cast could be more powerful, and in those cases, we've added an additional bonus for nearby allies.

We've also made some usability improvements to shield and added additional options for group might to help make both quickness-focused and alacrity-focused chronomancer builds more competitive with other support picks.

Core

• Master of Manipulation: This trait no longer reduces the recharge of manipulation skills, and it now grants aegis to nearby allies instead of superspeed.
• Mirror: Reduced cooldown from 15 seconds to 12 seconds in PvE, and from 20 seconds to 15 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Mimic: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Mass Invisibility: Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 48 seconds in PvE, and from 75 seconds to 60 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Time Warp: This skill now also grants superspeed to allies and inflicts chill on enemies. Reduced cooldown from 120 seconds to 75 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Decoy: Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 40 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Mirror Images: Reduced cooldown from 35 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Mesmer mantras now require an initial casting time to prepare the mantra charges. The effects they grant when completing the initial cast are as follows:
  • Mantra of Recovery: Heal yourself, and heal nearby allies for a lesser amount.
  • Mantra of Concentration: Grant boons to yourself and nearby allies.
  • Mantra of Distraction: Reduce the recharge time of Diversion.
  • Mantra of Pain: Grant might to yourself and nearby allies.
  • Mantra of Resolve: Remove all conditions from yourself, and remove fewer conditions from nearby allies.
• Egotism: Increased damage bonus from 5% to 10% in PvP and WvW.
• Protected Phantasms: This trait has been replaced by Temporal Enchanter. Temporal Enchanter causes glamour skills to grant superspeed and resistance to allies in the area and increases glamour durations by 1 second.

Chronomancer

• Echo of Memory: Deja Vu: These skills will now immediately summon the phantasm when successfully blocking an attack. If no attack is blocked, the phantasm will still be summoned at the end of the channel.
• Tides of Time: Catching the returning wave while under the effects of Continuum Shift will now also reduce the recharge of this skill after exiting Continuum Shift. Increased the number of might stacks from 5 to 8 in PvE only.
• Well of Action: This skill now grants might and fury to allies on its final pulse in addition to superspeed.
• Well of Senility: This skill now dazes enemies on its final pulse in addition to removing boons.

Virtuoso

• Psychic Riposte: Fixed an issue in which the unblockable effect would not apply to the entire shatter.

Necromancer

We're improving the reaper's shout skills, which will now deal increased damage and gain additional effects when striking enemies in melee range, rewarding players for diving deep into the fray.

Warhorn also sees some improvements, with Wail of Doom once again being unblockable and the cooldown reduction from Banshee's Wail being rolled into the baseline, allowing a wider range of necromancer builds to take warhorn without feeling tied to the Blood Magic trait line.

Core

• Banshee's Wail: This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of warhorn skills.
• Wail of Doom: This skill is now unblockable. Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
• Locust Swarm: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
• Necrotic Stab: Increased power coefficient from 0.7 to 0.9 in PvE only. Increased life force gained from 2% to 4%.
• Necrotic Bite: Increased power coefficient from 1.2 to 1.3 in PvE only. Increased life force gained from 6% to 8%.
• Life Siphon: Reduced cooldown from 10 seconds to 8 seconds in PvP and WvW. Increased damage bonus against bleeding foes from 20% to 50% in PvE only.
• Dark Pact: This skill now also inflicts bleeding on the target and grants life force to the caster for each boon removed. This skill now removes boons instead of corrupting them in PvP and WvW. Increased the number of boons removed from 1 to 3 in PvP, 1 to 2 in WvW, and 2 to 3 in PvE.

Reaper

• Augury of Death: This trait no longer reduces the recharge of shout skills.
• "Your Soul is Mine!": This skill now deals additional damage and grants additional life force per target struck within melee range of the caster. Reduced cooldown from 20 seconds to 16 seconds.
• "Nothing Can Save You!": This skill no longer grants additional unblockable attacks on all enemies struck. This skill now deals additional damage and grants additional unblockable attacks when striking targets within melee range of the caster. Reduced cooldown from 20 seconds to 16 seconds.
• "Rise!": This skill now deals additional damage and summons additional horrors when striking targets within melee range of the caster. The maximum number of shambling horrors that can be summoned is 5. Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 32 seconds.
• "Suffer!": This skill now deals additional damage and transfers one additional condition to targets struck within melee range of the caster. Reduced cooldown from 20 seconds to 16 seconds.
• "You Are All Weaklings!": This skill now deals additional damage and grants more might when striking targets within melee range of the caster. Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.
• "Chilled to the Bone!": This skill now deals additional damage, stun, and condition duration, and grants you additional boons when striking targets within melee range of the caster. Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 36 seconds.
• Chilling Victory: Reduced cooldown from 2 seconds to 1 second in PvP.
• Blighter's Boon: This trait now also triggers when removing a boon from an enemy.

Ranger

We've rolled a few of ranger's cooldown reduction traits into the baseline cooldown reduction for those skills, creating additional builds in which the skills can be taken at a higher level of effectiveness. Primal Cry will now inflict poison in addition to its other conditions, adding some synergy with ranger's poison traits and providing a slight improvement for condition-based soulbeast builds.

For competitive modes, we've made some improvements to the Wilderness Survival trait line and tuned up soulbeast stances to improve ranger builds that are focused on attrition and survival over raw burst damage.

Core

• Empathic Bond: This trait has been reworked. It now causes beast skills to remove conditions from the ranger and their pet.
• Rugged Growth: Increased pulse heal from 155 to 196 in PvP and WvW.
• Windborne Notes: This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of warhorn skills.
• Hunter's Call: Reduced cooldown from 20 seconds to 16 seconds.
• Call of the Wild: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
• Wilderness Knowledge: This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of survival skills.
• Troll Unguent: Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds in PvE, and from 30 seconds to 24 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Lightning Reflexes: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
• Muddy Terrain: Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Quickening Zephyr: Reduced cooldown from 45 seconds to 35 seconds in PvE, and from 40 seconds to 32 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Entangle: Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 48 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Brutish Seals: This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of signet skills, and it now grants might in addition to fury.
• Signet of the Hunt: The active component of this skill now grants superspeed in addition to unblockable stacks. Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 20 seconds.
• Signet of Renewal: This skill now grants resolution to the ranger's pet in addition to resistance. Reduced cooldown from 50 seconds to 35 seconds.
• Signet of the Wild: Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.

Soulbeast

• Double Arc: Reduced cooldown from 7 seconds to 6 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Instinctive Engage: Reduced ammunition recharge from 15 seconds to 12 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Dolyak Stance: Reduced duration from 6 seconds to 4 seconds in PvP only. Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 40 seconds in PvP only.
• Moa Stance: Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 30 seconds in PvP only.
• Griffon Stance: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
• Primal Cry: This skill now inflicts poison on each strike in addition to its other effects.
• Eternal Bond: Increased base heal from 487 to 584.

Untamed

• Unnatural Traversal: This skill is no longer instant and now has a casting time of 0.25 seconds.

Revenant

Vindicator is still overperforming relative to where we want it to be in PvP. With other top elite specializations like spellbreaker and catalyst seeing some reductions, we wanted to make sure to bring down vindicator as well, and we're continuing to pull back on some of the damage improvements that were made following the Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons™ launch when vindicator was still struggling with access to one dodge. We'd like to see vindicator builds move into more offensive trait choices to make up for the loss in damage, instead of remaining a damage threat while focusing on defensive traits.

Core

• Resilient Spirit: Reduced barrier per unique boon from 160 to 119 in PvP only.

Renegade

• Kalla's Fervor: Increased power damage bonus per stack from 1% to 2% in PvP and WvW.
• Heroic Command: Lasting Legacy: Increased might duration from 6 seconds to 9 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Bloodbane Path: Increased power coefficient per strike from 0.4 to 0.45 in PvP and WvW.
• Sevenshot: Increased power coefficient per strike from 0.24 to 0.265 in PvP and WvW.
• Endless Enmity: This trait no longer requires the enemy to be under a certain health threshold. Reduced fury duration from 6 seconds to 4 seconds. Fury is also applied to nearby allies.
• Brutal Momentum: This trait now grants a 10% increased critical-hit chance when endurance is not full. The 33% increased critical chance while endurance is full is unchanged.

Vindicator

• Phantom's Onslaught: Reduced power coefficient from 1.36 to 1.18 in PvP only.
• True Strike: Reduced power coefficient per block stack from 0.3 to 0.15 in PvP only.
• Spear of Archemorus: Reduced power coefficient from 2.67 to 2.33 in PvP only.
• Nomad's Advance: Reduced power coefficient from 2.1 to 1.7 in PvP only.
• Scavenger Burst: Reduced power coefficient from 1.4 to 1.25 in PvP only.
• Imperial Impact: The attack from this trait no longer inflicts chill in PvP and WvW. Reduced power coefficient from 0.625 to 0.5 in PvP only.

Thief

Rifle saw some improvements in the last balance update, but it's still outshined by dagger in most power deadeye builds. We do want rifle to be a viable pick, and we're bumping up the damage a bit more. We've also made a usability improvement to Deadeye's Mark, which will no longer be lost when entering the downed state.

Specter is another support build in PvE that struggles with might generation compared to some other options. We've shifted the self-only might from Shadow Sap into area-of-effect might and bumped up the might on Well of Bounty with the goal of making alacrity-focused specter builds more competitive.

Core

• Signets of Power: This trait has been reworked. It now causes signet skills to grant initiative when activated.
• Signet of Malice: Reduced cooldown from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
• Signet of Shadows: Reduced cooldown from 20 seconds to 16 seconds.
• Infiltrator's Signet: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds in PvE, and from 35 seconds to 28 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Trickster: This trait no longer reduces the cooldown of trick skills. Increased the number of conditions removed from 1 to 2.
• Caltrops: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds.
• Haste: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 24 seconds in PvE, and from 45 seconds to 35 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Roll for Initiative: Reduced cooldown from 35 seconds to 28 seconds in PvE, and from 50 seconds to 35 seconds in PvP and WvW. Reduced initiative gain from 6 to 4 in PvP and WvW.
• Skelk Venom: Reduced cooldown from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
• Keen Observer: Reduced health threshold requirement from 90% to 75% in PvE only.

Daredevil

• Steal is no longer replaced by Swipe when the daredevil specialization is equipped.
• Impairing Daggers: Reduced cooldown from 25 seconds to 18 seconds.
• Impact Strike: Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 30 seconds.

Deadeye

• Deadeye's Mark is no longer removed when the deadeye goes into the downed state.
• Brutal Aim: Increased power coefficient from 0.6 to 0.75 in PvE only.
• Deadly Aim: Increased power coefficient from 1.0 to 1.1 in PvE only.
• Skirmisher's Shot: Increased power coefficient from 0.8 to 1.0 in PvE only.
• Spotter's Shot: Increased power coefficient from 1.15 to 1.3 in PvE only.
• Double Tap: Increased power coefficient per hit from 0.65 to 0.8 in PvE only.
• Three Round Burst: Increased power coefficient per hit from 0.75 to 0.85 in PvE only.
• Shadow Meld: This skill no longer removes revealed in PvP and WvW.

Specter

• Shadow Sap: The enemy-targeted version of this skill now grants might in an area around the specter. The ally-targeted version of this skill now grants protection.
• Well of Silence: This skill has been reworked. It now dazes enemies on the initial strike, then removes conditions from allies in the area on each pulse. Gain shadow force for each condition removed. Reduced cooldown from 50 seconds to 40 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Well of Bounty: Increased might stacks from 6 to 8 in PvE only.

Warrior

For this update, we focused on improving the gunsaber skills. As it essentially replaces one of bladesworn's regular weapons, we want to make sure that the gunsaber is a flexible kit that can play well with a broad number of other weapons. To that end, we've added a ranged component to a lot of gunsaber skills, as well as a potential crowd control to Artillery Slash. The gunsaber will still maximize its potential when in melee range, but now it will have a bit more flexibility in midrange situations and a broader set of tools to draw from.

Spellbreaker has become a dominant force in PvP over the last few months, and in this update we're targeting some of its sustain potential with adjustments to Banner of Defense and Adrenal Health. We've also adjusted the way that Full Counter interacts with traits like Adrenal Health, which now requires a successful strike instead of triggering when blocking an attack; our goal is to introduce the same counterplay that many burst skills have.

Core

• Counterblow: Reduced cooldown from 8 seconds to 7 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Pommel Bash: This skill now grants barrier if it strikes an enemy that is using a skill.
• Savage Leap: Increased power coefficient from 0.75 to 1.15 in PvP and WvW.
• Final Thrust: This skill now inflicts a reduced amount of bleeding to targets above 50% health. Reduced cooldown from 15 seconds to 12 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Dolyak Signet: Increased base healing from 1,000 to 1,640. Reduced stability duration from 6 seconds to 4 seconds in PvP only. Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 40 seconds in PvP only.
• Balanced Stance: Reduced cooldown from 60 seconds to 50 seconds in PvP only.
• Signet of Stamina: Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 35 seconds. Increased endurance gain from 25 to 50 in PvP only.
• Frenzy: Reduced cooldown from 40 seconds to 35 seconds.
• Banner of Defense: Increased cooldown from 30 seconds to 40 seconds in PvP only.
• Fierce Blow: Increased cooldown from 4 seconds to 5 seconds in PvP only.
• Adrenal Health: Reduced base heal per stack from 87 to 70 in PvP only.
• Martial Cadence: Reduced quickness duration from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.

Berserker

• Arc Divider: Increased power coefficient per strike from 1.4 to 1.5 in PvE only.
• Shattering Blow: Reduced cooldown from 20 to 15 in PvP and WvW.
• Sundering Leap: This skill now grants aegis on activation. Reduced cooldown to 15 seconds in all game modes. Reduced power coefficient from 2.33 to 2.0 in PvP and WvW, and from 3.0 to 2.5 in PvE. Decreased berserk mode extension from 5 seconds to 3 seconds in PvE only.
• Outrage: Reduced cooldown from 20 seconds to 18 seconds in PvP and WvW.
• Dead or Alive: Increased Blood Reckoning duration from 2.5 seconds to 3 seconds.
• Eternal Champion: This trait has been reworked. It now grants stability and endurance when entering berserk mode, and it causes all traits that trigger when entering berserk mode to also trigger when exiting berserk mode.

Spellbreaker

• Full Counter: This skill will now trigger traits that trigger on burst skill usage when striking an enemy instead of when absorbing an attack.
• Breaching Strike: Reduced bonus damage against enemies with no boons from 50% to 5% in PvP and WvW.

Bladesworn

• Swift Cut: This skill now fires an additional projectile after the melee slash. Enemies hit by the melee attack take reduced damage from the projectile.
• Steel Divide: This skill now fires an additional projectile after the melee slash. Enemies hit by the melee attack take reduced damage from the projectile.
• Explosive Thrust: The secondary explosion portion of this skill is now a ranged attack. Enemies hit by the melee attack take reduced damage from the projectile.
• Blooming Fire: This skill no longer causes explosions along the length of your strike. Instead, this skill now launches a projectile at your target, shattering on contact and causing multiple explosions.
• Artillery Slash: This skill now consumes all ammo when used, gaining bonus damage and different effects based on the amount of ammo consumed.
• Cyclone Trigger: This skill now applies aegis to the caster in addition to its other effects. This skill now blocks missiles as soon as it is activated. The total duration of the block remains the same.

[Sublimatio.6981]

Necromancer/Reaper feedback:

I think that the changes for necromancer are insubstantial. There are classes that reach over 40k DPS on power builds, and the changes to dagger and shouts will not contribute to the necromancer's DPS ceiling that this class desperately needs. It's nice that dagger gets a little buff, so the bottom level of necromancer DPS will increase slightly, however we still struggle with life force depleting quickly in PvE content due to passive damage taken - this was not a big problem in dungeons and early fractals as much, but over time the PvE combat design shifted into unavoidable, shared damage that you need to bring healers for. This hurts necromancers a lot by pulling them out of shroud, where they need to be to deal damage. But even in a perfect scenario where the reaper can be in shroud for full duration, it still barely reaches 35.6k DPS. If anything, balancing reaper should be similar to how you're treating elementalist this patch, where you're over-buffing it so that the heavy price of being a reaper is evening out the average performance. 

Edited February 3 by Sublimatio.6981
Feedback

[Antina.5973]

Awesome mantra changes, thank you so much!

[Demon Puppet.6873]

Please put in the Epidemic bug fix. Its been fixed over a month according to my convo with Grouch and waiting to be patched. This is all I ask

Also buff Corrupt Boon in WvW

Edited February 3 by Demon Puppet.6873

[ZEUStiger.3590]

Is that it? Are you kidding me? So we're just going to pretend like power berserker is in a good spot, huh? One minuscule PvE-focused berserker change for a spec that's massively lagging behind almost everyone else? Is this what we've been waiting for 2.5 months? Do you have some spite towards berserker? Bladesworn and spellbreaker are your new favorite toys, and balancing berserker is no fun?

Current benchmark is 34924 dps. This change would add 457 more dps, for a total of 35381. When bladesworn is at 40608 and spellbreaker - at 40351. Power berserker received a 1.3% buff, when it needed a 14.5% improvement to join the 40k club. Give me ONE good reason why it shouldn't.

You wrecked this spec into the ground half-a-year ago, and you have done kitten-all to remedy the situation. You have failed to even bring it back up to the level it was at before EoD (38k), and it WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH EVEN BACK THEN to see popular adoption as a dps build, much less now when we have several >40k builds. Berserker is currently being played by 0.67% of players in raids - the only place they can compete in due to, ironically, the lack of burst damage that's oh so coveted in fractals - and that's counting BOTH POWER AND CONDI builds. 0.41% in fractals. Power berserker's benchmark is laughably low, considering the build's selfish nature, and that's even assuming you engage in the exploitey weapon stowing gameplay. If you don't - the dps falls down by another ~1.5k, putting the dps-only power berserker on the same level as some QUICKNESS-DPS builds of other classes.

When soulbeast dared to fall out of favor a little bit due to nerfed OWP, you panicked and buffed every weapon skill they use in the very next update, but when berserker is down in the ditch for half-a-year - here, have a single +0.1 coefficient, suck it up. Oh and we're going to bug your trait for 3 months, just for the hell of it. This is frankly insulting.

Fix what you broke! It's been 6 months! All you need to change is numbers! How many more months do we need to wait for it to happen?

Edited February 3 by ZEUStiger.3590

[DanAlcedo.3281]

YAY! My Core Warrior Build got nerfed! And nothing else intersting for Warrior.

Im not playing GW2 at the moment and i was hoping it would bring me back.

Well... see you in 3-5 months if something good happens on the balance front.

[Infusion.7149]

Thank you Rubi!

@ CMC/Roy please give us an update on one dodge mirage :S

Its the most glaring omission.

[SleepyBat.9034]

Nice work guys! Here are a few engineer changes that are needed.

Bonus meme - We need a Guardian Great Sword 3 bug fix in WvW. It's using the PvE power coefficient.

Edited February 3 by SleepyBat.9034

[Debesyla.7102]

roadmap where

(j/k, nice changes)

Edited February 3 by Debesyla.7102

[Mike.7983]

Feels lacking for mirage/virt/vindicator in pve as usual.  Still really want a phase option to deal with insane amount of jade mechs clogging screen up.

[apharma.3741]

Mesmer:
Mantra of distraction reducing diversion cool down was what enabled the degenerate gameplay of CI mirage. This is really not a good idea, you've removed CDR traits because of this. Please change it to an AoE daze on charge or something else please.
Mantra of Pain: This is still a low skill ability and needs reworking. Many people have suggested making it boon removal which would be great on power builds.
Timewarp: This skill is going to get complained about with slow and chill lol
Chrono Wells: People don't use them because no-one stays in them. Please change these wells to pulse the effect each time.
The rest is nice to have but come on, 2nd dodge on mirage is becoming a meme.

Edited February 4 by apharma.3741

[Proklet.2857]

Please nerf sustain from Ele Focus in PVP and WvW.

Well of Silence - should be at most 30 sec cooldown in WvW

Buff specter shroud in WvW pls.

 

Ty 🙂

Edited February 3 by Proklet.2857

[Vidit.7108]

21 hours ago, Rubi Bayer.8493 said:

Firebrand mantras now require an initial casting time to prepare the mantra charges. The final charge of each mantra is more powerful.

I don't want to go back to how they worked before. It was such a QOL improvement to not accidently use the last charge by mistake. There is no mention here about boon duration adjustments iirc those were changed when Mantras were changed and the lack of detail here is really discouraging. Please don't make this change for Firebrand.

I like a lot of the other changes in this patch. The lack of significant changes to thief is really disappointing. It's great Steal is back on Daredevil and Specter has condi cleanse but overall these are small changes.

I hope the boon duration adjustments made to Mechanist and Renegade happen for other builds

Edited February 3 by Vidit.7108

[Jokuc.3478]

I am so happy to finally see the old Firebrand mantra animations back, I was so sad when they removed them from the game. Nice with some more skill expression back into the game with the last powerful charge. Very good idea with the auto flip out of combat to we get the best of both worlds.

I'm kind of confused why they didn't do any nerfs to Virtuoso so that Chrono can be a closer competitor. I also think Bladesworn should have had a tiny bit more nerfs.

I think the Reaper buffs are probably not enough to make it a true strong pick in Raiding/Fractals, but hey at least Chilled to the Bone got a nice buff.

Happy to see the extra stability on Ele, but the Weaver buffs might be a bit too much lol

as for what kind of player I am, I mainly play instanced end-game PvE such as Raids/Strikes/Fracs and enjoy pushing for fast clear times and low man groups.

Edited February 4 by Jokuc.3478

[Jaykay.9641]

Big picture view, this is a very large update to game balance and profession mechanics and should be applauded in it's scope.

However, as a mainly Revenant player, I'm very disappointed in basically no changes to the profession outside of some competitive changes. I really hope Revenant is the main focus for the next major balance patch.

Personal gripe: I'm very saddened in the Imperial Impact Chill removal in PvP modes. I used this function a lot on a condi-Vindi build to proc Abyssal Chill trait in Corruption. Please find another way to nerf the ability if it's too bloated.

Edited February 3 by Jaykay.9641
Added more context

[Tseison.4659]

Sigh…this could’ve been sent in an email. Not impressed at all.

They seriously want to ship changes/reverts that could have easily been in a regular patch? Additionally, we’ve been hyper vocal about Mirage changes and where are they? No where in sight.

What is wrong with them? I honestly want to know because it’s really baffling how out of touch they are with the community. If they’re gonna deliver lack lustre changes like these, ship them in regular patches along with your bug fixes etc…. Don’t bother trying to give players something to look forward to if you can’t even deliver anything good.

Edited February 3 by Tseison.4659

[Zea Alter.1687]

Thank you CMC and Roy for all your efforts. 

I feel like Dragonhunter and Willbender didn't receive big enough buffs, the virtues change for Willbender is a solid change but there needs to more incentive to run those over Firebrand which can output as much DPS as Willbender while supporting allies. I think there needs to be additional buffs to make either Condi or Power Willbender to be meta. Another note is that off-hand sword on Willbender needs to be looked at as there's no reason to run it over torch.

Edited February 14 by Zea Alter.1687

[Silimaur.1984]

Lots of good and fun ele changes but it looks like Mist Form was slightly neglected. I guess you don't want to make this stronger in competitive game modes but in PVE this skill just feels pretty bad especially losing the 20% cooldown reduction.

 

There were not huge uses for it as it was but even things like blocking sloth projectiles will now be nerfed. I'd like it if they cut the cooldown from 60 seconds to say 45 seconds in PVE only.

 

I know this is a pretty pedantic point as ele did get some ok changes here but I don't want to forget about it!

[Pendjei.4986]

It would be nice, since there was a good amount of effort put into chrono support balance, to add a source of group regen to get closer to that heal chrono dream.

[zealex.9410]

Some awesome changes but pls revert the cd increase on longbow 2 for dh, reduce the aftercast on greatsword  4 and or buff possetion of blades abit dmg wise. Especially with the sword and focus buffs longbow is more undervalued for dh now. Pls reconsider the cd increase and reduce the aftercast on gs4 because everyone hates it.

 

As for reaper reduce litch form cd in pve to make it have more than 2 uses per encounter lol.

 

EDIT: Reduce the timewarp cd in pve as well, literally no reason to do that only in competitive.

EDIT2: Not going to lie im shocked that lb2 still roots but you are removing the slow on gs2. At least make us move at half speed.

Edited February 3 by zealex.9410

[Campioneri.7601]

Please keep handkite spellbreaker in mind with those changes, looks like it will be wrecked by this patch since the Adrenal Health, protection, swiftness, and bonus adrenaline won't trigger. We need more classes able to handle that role, not less.

[Minion of Terror.1948]

I responded to the previous balance preview by talking about how I liked that it was said on stream that you wanted scepter on elementalist to be a DPS weapon. With that I really wanted to clarify the use for each weapon on each class. For this balance preview staff on elemntalist as a support weapon, dagger on necromancer, hammer on guardian as bruser weapons was mentioned. I will remember this. This mostly has to deal with Staff since it has so many skills I do feel that a ton of the skills it has are more DPS focused then support focused.

 

The one weapon I think about that was not living up to the role I use it as is warrior main hand sword. Mainly final thrust. The weapon is used for condition builds but final thrust only apples bleeding when target is 50% or below. In open world you almost never use this because when a target is reached 50% or below the conditions you already applied will finish the target. Seeing it now apply 3 stacks when above 50% will help that a lot. However I still don't know if the skill will be worth using when a target is above the heath threshold in a rotation.

 

The major changes I am looking foreword to is the alacrity changes for Tempest and Renegade. The pulsing on Tempest will make it much easier to keep it up and Renegade really need it to increase ever since end of dragons changed 10 target skills to 5 target. I still feel a lot of skills that were 10 target have not gotten full compensated for the reduced target cap.

 

As a PvE player mostly it looks like I will enjoy the changes made and I am not coming out of this balance update feeling like anything I played a lot before is now unplayable. Good Jobs. Keep it up. See you at the next balance update.

 

[ShadowVisions.8193]

I'll be honest, the old Utility Goggles, however niche it was, did serve its purpose well. Utility Goggles as they stand now even with this change is just outclassed by many other skills. 

IMO, the best way to buff this skill to the point of being a viable option is to make it work on the ammunition system; two charges at most. This way, it stands out from all of the other stun breaks engineer has access to by having ammunition. 

[Lithril Ashwalker.6230]

• Shadow Meld: This skill no longer removes revealed in PvP and WvW.
  
  I get it, too much stealth...but what are you going to do to make the skill ELITE worthy now? 
   - "Stealth Yourself" is a bit CRAP to be frank...2s of stealth with 45s cooldown on 2 ammo charges EACH... its NOT worth the elite skill. Not to mention that it helped synergize with followup shots like Death's Judgement.
  You have literally killed Deadeye Roaming playstyle altogether with this. Now when we come against a NEW UNBLOCKABLE Sic em + Rapidfire ranger you cant just place down Smokescreen because it lasts what...4 second with a long cast time? You are DEAD the moment he mashes "Sic Em!" No way to counter it other than Daggerstorm or to obstruct the shots. NOT TO MENTION Longbow's and some shortbow attacks have an ARC which extend the EFFECTIVE range by 200 units the higher elevation you are so you couldnt even defend yourself with a rifle which literally should be outranging a longbow... Give this skill some kind of compensation in WvW aside from a measly 2s stealth...it wont even synergize with Meld With Shadows Trait now. Seriously take a look at the GW2 Thief Forums, Ask for feedback and TAKE IT HIGHLY INTO CONSIDERATION. YOU DID WELL on the rifle revert last patch because that range reduction was going to kill the entire elite spec...do it again.

[Jake.7526]

The burning speed and earthen rush changes on dagger main hand ele are so cursed for tempest. Because on tempest its not used for dps its used to move away from enemies or evade..